Senate GOP isn’t budging on the DREAM Act (updated)

State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan on Tuesday tossed another bucket of ice water on the idea of passing legislation that would allow undocumented students to tap into financial aid for college, less than 24 hours after the Assembly passed that legislation for a fifth time.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also has again proposed the DREAM Act in his executive budget proposal.

“Our members are very strongly opposed to the DREAM Act,” he said after delivering remarks at a rally for charter schools in Albany. “I’m going to put it in plain and simple terms: There’s tons of middle class families in the state of New York who are struggling. I met with college students who are working two and three jobs just to go to community college. So my primary obligation, and I think the position of our members is, let’s make sure we’re taking care of the hard-working middle class taxpayers who are struggling right now.”

Flanagan also shot down the idea of “sanctuary state” protections, as were approved by the Assembly Monday night. He said the 77-58 vote to approve that legislation, a relatively slim margin for an Assembly that’s overwhelmingly Democratic, “is an indication of the significant number of problems associated with the bill.”

“I’m not going to suggest I’m conversing on every aspect of it, but when I’m reading media accounts saying that the legislation is prohibiting law enforcement personnel in the state of New York from enforcing federal law, I’m pretty sure that’s not only illegal, it’s unconstitutional,” he said.

Those protections would include the right to legal representation for those facing illegal immigration charges; a prohibition against police questioning people about their immigration status; and a curtailment of the use of state and local facilities for detaining people.

The lawmakers said the second piece of legislation is a direct response to what they see as anti-immigrant sentiment being drummed up by President Donald Trump, as well as the White House’s recent executive order — currently on hold due to a court injunction — that has held up thousands of refugees from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the U.S..

“It is our job to respond to (Trump’s) calls for build border walls with a wall of our own,” said Democratic Queens Assemblyman Francisco Moya, who was referring to the president’s promise to build a wall along the U.S. Mexican border, and have Mexico pay for it.

Update: Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said prior to Tuesday session that the Democrats’ “Liberty Act” was about sending a message about where they stand on immigration.

“Some of these votes are tough, but that’s one of the reasons why we love to have such a big majority, we’re able to get tough votes passed,” he told reporters. “We wanted to send a message to the world about where we stand, where our hearts are when it comes to dealing with immigrants in the state.”